1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to canister style vacuum cleaners and, more particularly, to a vacuum cleaner with selectable canister size and impeller capacity.
2. Background Art
A conventional vacuum cleaner has a canister with an associated lid to define an accumulation space for matter such as particulate and/or liquids. A motor driven impeller evacuates the canister to develop suction in a flexible hose or the like connected at an inlet communicating with the inside of the canister. The capacity of the impeller is chosen depending upon the air volume within the canister, or air flow desired.
It has heretofore been common in the vacuum cleaner art to have fixed capacity evacuating structure and canisters. Consequently, a supplier would necessarily stock distinct units of different capacity. The evacuating structure and the canisters would not be interchangeable from one capacity unit to the next. Consequently, the units would of necessity be separately manufactured and inventoried. This represents a substantial inconvenience from both manufacturing and supply ends.
A further drawback with the prior art vacuum cleaners is that they are normally complicated to construct. For example, often the canister has a lid with separately attached walls and dividers interconnected to define separate chambers. An evacuation chamber might have separately attached hose fittings at an intake and might be separate from a housing containing the operating motor. Not only is the assembly complicated, but the costs attendent thereto must necessarily increase proportionately. The likelihood of malfunction increases with the number of parts.
A still further problem that has been contended with in the art is the problem of overheating of the operating motor carrying the impeller. Normally, the motor is supplied as a self-contained unit and is carried in a cavity associated with a housing attached to the canister lid. The structure does not lend itself to adequate ventilation and it may be difficult to force air over the cased motor to effect sufficient cooling to safely operate the motor.
The present invention is specifically directed to overcoming the above enumerated problems in a novel and simple manner.